News & Media

News Room

AAVMC Names Diversity Scholarship to Honor Patricia Lowrie

July 11, 2012

Washington, D.C. – The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) has named its minority scholarship fund in honor of Patricia M. Lowrie, director of the Women’s Resource Center and assistant to the dean at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and a long-time champion of diversity and inclusion in the veterinary profession. The Patricia Lowrie Diversity Leadership Scholarship will be awarded to a veterinary student who has made significant contributions to enhancing diversity and inclusion at his or her institution.

Dr. Willie Reed, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University and past president of AAVMC, said “Pat Lowrie has spent her entire career addressing diversity in the veterinary profession, advocating for social justice, questioning inequality, and addressing the disproportionate representation of women in various fields of academia and in senior level academic positions. She is an influential leader who has contributed her energy, talents, passion, and dedication to advancing our understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion among the staff, faculty, and student bodies of veterinary colleges.”

Reed also described Lowrie as someone who has been a mentor, colleague, friend, and advocate for countless individuals both within and outside of veterinary medicine, and someone who is “a persistent voice that reminds us that the veterinary profession cannot reach preeminence until it reflects the makeup of society and fully embraces the differences among us.”

Lowrie received both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in zoology from Howard University and acquired additional training in organizational management and community leadership from the University of California - Davis, and the Lansing Michigan Community College. Her career in diversity began when she was appointed the affirmative action officer for MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and later as assistant to the dean for admissions and affirmative action. In 1993, she assumed the role of senior academic specialist and director of the Women’s Research Center at MSU.

Lowrie has received many honors and awards, including the Outstanding Contribution to Minority Medical Education Award presented by the National Association of Minority Educators, MSU’s All University Excellence in Diversity Award, the AAVMC Iverson Bell Award, and appointment as senior fellow in the Office of Diversity Equity and Global Initiatives by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. In 2010, she delivered the AAVMC Recognition Lecture.

In addition, Lowrie has served on numerous local, state, and national committees relating to the recruitment, retention, and development of women and underrepresented individuals in higher education, and has devoted countless hours to the AAVMC where she helped design and implement recruitment strategies for underrepresented students to veterinary medicine. For many years, she provided visionary leadership to the AAVMC Multicultural Affairs Committee.

At MSU, she created Vetward Bound, one of the most successful and longest running programs in the country for the recruitment of underrepresented students, which has received federal funding for nearly 30 years. She has also received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for summer research programs for underrepresented high school students to allow them to gain research experience by working alongside noted veterinary scientists.

To make a contribution to the scholarship fund, please contact Lisa Greenhill at 202-371-9195, ext. 147, or email lgreenhill@aavmc.org.

# # #

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) is a non-profit membership organization working to protect and improve the health and welfare of animals, people and the environment by advancing academic veterinary medicine. Its members include all 33 veterinary medical colleges in the United States and Canada, nine departments of veterinary science, eight departments of comparative medicine, 12 international colleges of veterinary medicine, and three affiliate members. On the Web: http://www.aavmc.org